Those who wanted it watched and enjoyed it, but there is a difference between online fandom and general audience interest.
AT&T reported 2.7 million new HBO and/or HBO Max subscribers in the most recent quarter, which may be considered somewhat disappointing considering the sheer amount of big-deal content offered by the Warner Media platform. Now, to be fair, subscriber retention is as important as new subscribers, as 44.2 million domestic subscribers for HBO or HBO Max is still around $662.6 million in new revenue each month. That the deluge of 2021 theatrical releases (starting with Wonder Woman 1984 in late 2020) and the much-discussed Zack Snyder cut of Justice League didn’t quite move the needle over the last quarter is in itself not necessarily a disaster.
First, one can argue that the subscriber bump in the previous quarters (upon the December 3 announcement that all of the 2021 theatricals would be going to HBO Max concurrently with their theatrical release) represented anyone who was excited about the WB slate as a whole. You can argue that there was much overlap for folks who might have subscribed for Wonder Woman 1984 and for Mortal Kombat, Godzilla Vs. Kong and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. That’s especially true for the DC Films Super Friends epic, as that film was announced last May well before AT&T announced their “every theatrical movie on HBO Max too” plan.
Second, if AT&T really sticks to their promise to only do the HBO Max/theaters deal for 2021 (and they did cut a deal with Cineworld promising a 45-day window in 2022), then maybe this really was a “desperate times call for desperate measures” play. Releasing the likes of Wonder Woman 1984, Tom & Jerry, Mortal Kombat and Godzilla Vs. Kong concurrently on HBO Max and theaters did likely/will likely cut into their domestic box office earnings. However, the guaranteed HBO Max cushion allowed WB to promise a full-throated theatrical release slate (including smaller flicks like Judas and the Black Messiah and The Little Things) for 2021.
Godzilla Vs. Kong moved up from May 21 to March 31 partially because HBO Max needed a “big” movie between Wonder Woman 1984 and Mortal Kombat. Even with around 3.5 million folks checking it out on opening weekend via HBO Max, the film will still earn over/under $95 million domestic and (give or take Japan next month) over/under $435 million worldwide on a $165 million budget. The “first huge movie of the recovery” hook (in a barren marketplace) likely canceled out some Covid-specific challenges and audience displeasure with King of the Monsters. It might have remained in May absent the “cushion” of HBO Max and a recovered China.
As for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it got made, it was pretty good the fans got to see it. But this was never going to rewrite the ongoing path for DC Films. There’s a big difference between allocating $70 million in a pandemic to craft a new version of an already-shot motion picture and spending $500 million on two more theatrical (or even streaming-exclusive) sequels to that movie, especially when raw viewership shows that general audiences didn’t care about a revamped version of a superhero movie they barely saw in theaters which was a direct sequel to two superhero movies they disliked or outright loathed in theaters.
This was an admitted Hail Mary which compensated for a lack of buzzy streaming originals during a pandemic and thus helped keep some post-production houses in business. It was announced amid a rebounding DC Films, with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam!, Joker and Birds of Prey earning strong reviews and/or commercial success. This was before Wonder Woman 1984 debuted to mixed reactions and (without arguing causation) before Ray Fisher’s allegations of onset abuse courtesy of replacement director Joss Whedon. That ongoing online saga negated (or at least complicated) some of the “studio does right by the fans and lets the original director realize his vision” narrative.
All of that aside, Warner Bros. knew that the Snyder fandom was a very vocal minority and that online fandom doesn’t equal general audience interest. That, more than anything else, is a lesson that the media (and at least some in the industry) needs to learn yesterday. Lucasfilm and/or Disney shot themselves in the foot by seemingly taking the online outcry over the well-reviewed and well-received (an A from Cinemascore on opening weekend) The Last Jedi at face value. That contributed to the equally divisive but critically-panned (with a B+ from Cinemascore) The Rise of Skywalker (which, to be fair, grossed $1.073 billion worldwide).
Now Star Wars IX did earn $515 million domestic, compared to $620 million for Last Jedi and $532 million for Rogue One, while The Mandalorian is mostly well-received on Disney+. Moreover, Zack Snyder’s Justice League (a 243-minute, R-rated, formatted in 4:3, direct sequel to Man of Steel and Batman v Superman) was never going to break out. It still bears repeating that, in terms of online fandoms and film nerd interest translating to general audience consumption, there’s a difference between Deadpool and Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. Deducing that distinction is of paramount importance when SEO pushes vocal minorities to the top of search pages.
Come what may, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, which he hopes will launch a franchise, arrives on Netflix May 21. Ray Fisher, who gave the best performance in both cuts of Justice League, co-stars alongside Adrienne Warren’s Mamie Till-Mobley in Marissa Jo Cerar and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s upcoming ABC miniseries Women of the Movement. Fisher co-stars in the third season of True Detective, available alongside Justice League on HBO Max. You don’t even need to vote with your wallet to show your support, just your time. Because, for what it’s worth, Fisher deserves the same post-blockbuster second chance as an Armie Hammer or a Taylor Kitsch.